Letters to the Editor
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What a Great Leap Forward
For the cause of American feminism. Boo-hoo, those nasty BOYS made fun of me.
What's next? Accuse them of having cooties?
Way to stand tall, your Majesty. Way to be presidential.
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Boy, that's leadership
Take it easy on me because I'm a girl? Talk about playing it both ways. I expect supporters of Clinton who complain that critics are motivated by gender will take the Clinton campaign to task for engaging in gender excuses. I didn't see anyone on stage say anything they wouldn't have said if the frontrunner had been a man.
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B. A. G.
I'm not a Clinton supporter--I'm guessing our political values don't match up, even though I can't quite figure out what hers are. But I am a woman for presidential candidate supporter and I love to see her up there, and yes that spin is completely disappointing and weak. Would Obama (also not supporting) say all the white people ganged up on me, and would we think of him as any type of leader if he did?
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"Ultimately, it was six guys against her, and she came off as one strong woman."
Ultimately, she came across as dodgy weasle who couldn't give a straight answer to save her life.
Maybe at the next debate her husband can show up and tell those guys to back off.
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Holy Crap!
If she thinks she's being piled on NOW, think how she's gonna feel if she actually wins the nomination and has to go against the Republican candidate! Does she think the Republican will take it easy on her?!
Worse, if she IS elected President, does she think all the other world leaders will play nice with her? What about the Shieks she'll have to deal with? Will THEY respect her given she's a woman?
I suggest she start growing an EXTREMELY thick skin, if she's THIS delicate...either that or just drop out of the election NOW.
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It Is Just You
My mother's immediate reaction to the debate was the unfairness of the disproportionate attacks on Clinton both by the moderators and her fellow Democrats. The letters to the Times further illustrate that it has nothing to do with spin but with reality.
There is another point. The real spin is that everyone came after her and she withstood it. She is just tougher than everyone else. That is the real spin.
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If they rephrased it?
"There were six against one and she stood strong." Do you like that better?
It is just not that easy to make this statement and not use the words men or guys when they are men and they are trying to find a chink in her armor. I don't think that that statement is in anyway outrageous. It simply reflects reality. Maybe it is the words "strong woman" that bothers you? However, if they want to convey that she is strong, is there something inappropriate in saying that? Maybe strong front runner would be better. Do you like the words strong front runner? Would you like to avoid gender references altogether? One could say: "Six people against one strong person." If only we could just call them people and never refer to anyone as guys or gal or men or woman, we could actually pretend that gender is not a factor in this race -- not at all. We could even pretend that Senator Clinton is not the first woman in history to get within sniffing distance of the presidency.
Of course I have sometimes tragically misused the word "guys," as when I depart from a mixed gendered group and say: "See you guys later."
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re: If they rephrased it?
AKA Smith,
""There were six against one and she stood strong." Do you like that better?"
Irrelevant how you phrase it. The point is, her campaign is whining in the press how she was basically being savaged by a bunch of men. Even if she "stayed strong" if she's going to whine about it later, that shows weakness.
Sorry but if you want to be president (particularly if you are going to have to deal with Muslim leaders who ALREADY think you are weak), you can't do this in public or in the press!
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Bad boys, bad boys...
Ultimately, it was six guys against her, and she came off as one strong woman.
An alternate way of saying this: "Ultimately, it was six against one, and Clinton came off as one strong person."
But who actually talks like that? It's an awkward way to deliberately disguise gender (like teenagers who tell their parents they're going to the movies with a "friend." Hmm, would that be a boy-type friend or a girl-type friend?)
That's why the Obama example doesn't hold: it's clearly a race card because it throws in unnatural and unnecessary details.
Is the Clinton campaign above playing the gender card? Not a chance. I just don't think this incident is necesarily evidence of it.
It was, however, clear evidence of the "they're all ganging up on me because they're afraid" card. It's a hand she plays against the Republicans candidates (who like to mention Hillary Clinton's name more than any other) and it's a hand she'll play against her Democratic rivals. The Clinton tactic is always political excessive force: "you nudge me and I'll pulverize you."
Drat! AKA Smith, you beat me to the punch. Well-stated.
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Who's Whining Now?
I don't see where you men get "whining" out of the statement "Ultimately, it was six guys against her, and she came off as one strong woman."
It sounds more like boasting to me - pride, if you will. If a man said it, it might come out as "Ultimately, it was six guys against me, and I came off as one strong S.O.B." Would you then criticize Mr. "B" for whining about how he was picked on? I doubt it - you would understand that he was bragging up his accomplishment at defeating six to one odds.
It's more significant in this race, where a substantial proportion of the population automatically thinks that a woman - ANY woman - has got to be inferior to any man. Senator Clinton can not only play with the big boys, she can defeat them, and when outnumbered, can still win. This is a big deal. Why gloss over it, or ignore it?
It's also a big deal that there's been so much concentrating on her with attacks and gotcha questions in the debates, at the expense of the other candidates. The celebrity moderators ought to be more fair - use the Clinton Attack Time to spread out questions to the rest of the field.
But it's more fun to hit a Clinton. After all, the bigtime media has been doing it for 15 years or so now, and it never disappoints.